A Practical Directory for Young Christian Females eBook

sinners? Has this led me to do more for their
conversion? Have I abounded more in every good
word and work? Have the fruits of the Spirit
increased in my heart and life? Have I been more
faithful in all the relations of life? Do I perceive
any growing deadness to the world? Does my relish
for spiritual things increase, while my taste for earthly
delights diminishes? Do I see more and more my
own weakness, and feel a more steady dependence upon
Christ? Do I feel increasing spirituality in
religious duties? Do I feel increasing tenderness
of conscience, and maintain more watchfulness against
sin? Do I feel greater concern for the prosperity
of the church and the conversion of the world?
Am I becoming more meek and gentle in spirit, less
censorious, and less disposed to resent injuries?
Am I more ready to receive reproof from others, without
anger or hardness of feeling?

If you have time to keep a journal, you may find some
advantage from reviewing it on such occasions.
It will aid your memory, and help you to give your
past life a more thorough examination. You will
thereby be the better able to judge whether you are
making progress. However, this is a dangerous
experiment, as it is difficult to divest ourselves
of the idea that we are writing for the perusal of
others; and this furnishes many temptations.
But, however unfit this examination may find you, do
not let Satan tempt you to stay away from the Lord’s
table. It is your duty to commemorate his dying
love. It is your duty also to do it with a suitable
preparation of heart. Both these duties you will
neglect by staying away. In doing so, you cannot
expect God’s blessing. But set immediately
about the work of repentance. Come to the cross
of Christ, and renew your application to his pardoning
blood. Give yourself away to God anew, and renew
your covenant with him. In doing this, he will
bless your soul; and the Lord’s table will be
a season of refreshing. But if this repentance
and preparation be heartfelt and sincere, its fruits
will be seen in your subsequent life.

CONCLUSION.

I have now completed my intended series of letters.
I have endeavored to present the Christian character,
and the duties required of the followers of Christ,
in the light of God’s word. I know, however,
that I have done it with much imperfection. But,
do not rest with the mere mechanical performance of
the duties here recommended. Do not engage in
any of them with the hope of meriting God’s favor.
Use them only as the means of promoting your spiritual
progress; depending on the Holy Spirit, through the
blood and merits of Christ, to sanctify your heart.
For it is very possible for you to observe all these
things, and yet deceive yourself. Remember that
true religion is a deep work of grace in the heart,
changing the bent and inclination of the soul, and
giving a new direction to all its faculties.
O may you so live that Jesus shall say to you, as
to the church at Thyatira, “I know thy works,
and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience,
and thy works and THE LAST TO BE MORE THAN THE FIRST.”
Take also his exhortation to the church at Smyrna:
“BE THOU FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH, AND I WILL GIVE
THEE A CROWN OF LIFE.”